Information for

Health Story Project

September 19, 2014

Comprehensive electronic records that tell a patient’s complete health story. Today, most electronic patient records and health information exchanges operate on a small percentage of the available information. Health Story is dedicated to a comprehensive electronic record that can be shared to improve care through collaboration and analysis.

The Health StoryProject began in 2006 as an alliance of healthcare vendors, providers and associations that pooled resources in a rapid-development initiative. In a span of three years, the Project produced eight Health Level Seven (HL7) data standards for the flow of information using common types of healthcare documents.

Sign upto learn more about the Project’s first Roundtable meeting and how you can get involved. After completing the above survey, HIMSS staff will follow-up with you.

Why Join?

Advocate and build support for the Health Story Project

Collaborate and network with Health Story Project supporters<

Engage with industry leaders on monthly meetings

Participation on Health Story Roundtable is open to any HIMSS members at no additional cost

Be a part of Health Story's leadership!

Health Story is happy to announce the opening of Health Story Project Leadership Team nominations. The nomination process is by self-submission, if your leadership experience and skills match one of the descriptions for a vacant position, we encourage you to apply using our survey tool.

Your active participation in the nomination process is necessary to ensure a strong pool of candidates for the open leadership positions. Nominations close on May 15th. Please contact our staff at healthstory@himss.org with any questions.

Note: In order to apply for vacant positions, individuals or the organizations they represent must be active HIMSS members over the last twelve (12) months.

This project designed a basic procedure note in XML as a constraint on HL7 version 3 Clinical Document Architecture Release 2. The note is basic enough to be used for all procedures and includes a sample note for endoscopy. To promote standardization and acceptance, it was closely modeled on the current HL7 CDA Operative Note. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and The Joint Commission (JCAHO) requirements, with specialty group input, was used to choose the contents. CMS and JCAHO, the primary regulators, requirements dictated the minimum content standards. Implementer institutions were given opportunity for input as to compatibility with current/planned systems.

The Health Story Project collaborated with the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) with strong volunteer support from Oregon Health & Science University. Within HL7, the project was sponsored by the Structured Documents Work Group.

The HL7/IHE Health Story Implementation Guide Consolidation Project is a collaboration of Health Level Seven (HL7) International, Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) and the Health Story Project. Working through the HL7 standards development organization, volunteers consolidated exchange standards for eight common types of clinical documents along with the HL7 Continuity of Care Document (CCD) standard into one comprehensive implementation package that establishes a foundation for health information exchange.

Through the consolidation and harmonization effort, the project addressed minor areas of ambiguity within the specific Standards Final Rule requirement to implement HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) Release 2, Continuity of Care Document according to HITSP C32.

ONC's Office of Standards and Interoperability (S&I) hosted the volunteer effort within its S&I Framework and facilitated the project through HL7 and IHE with support of its contractors. Consolidated CDA is a recommended standard for clinical documents in the proposed rule supporting Meaningful Use Stage 2.

Within HL7, the project was sponsored by the Structured Documents Work Group.

HL7 Ambassador Webinar: Capturing the Patient Health Story with Consolidated CDA Millions of clinical documents are produced each year-offering detailed and valuable health information not always available in an accessible format in a digital medical record. This webinar covered the latest on how the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) standard can be used to support information flow between clinical documents and EHR systems. The HL7 Consolidated CDA standard is referenced by the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology as a possible requirement for Stage 2 meaningful use of EHR systems. Presentation

Health Story Presentation to EHR AssociationOverview of HL7 Consolidated-CDA, what it means to EHR vendors, and how it supports the Health Story approach. Presentation

HIMSS Government HIT Conference & ExhibitHealth Story Transition of Care DemonstrationHealth Story's work on the HL7 Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture standard (C-CDA) is referenced by the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for HIT as possible requirements for Stage 2 meaningful use of EHRs. Come see C-CDA in action! Featuring Health Story members M*Modal, Verizon and MEDfx, which provides the HIE product for Connect Virginia.

Health Data ManagementMaking the Move to the EHR: How to Cut the Paper Clutter Presentation

Health Story Demo at HIMSS12 A significant percent -- some estimates as high as 85% -- of the information needed to care for a patient at some point crosses enterprise boundaries. Participants demonstrated how to maximize the information available to the EHR while maintaining the patient story using all available channels, from unstructured, scanned documents to dictated notes enriched with abstractor, computer-assisted and NLP coding. The use case applies standards and profiles for clinical document exchange, published through the HL7/IHE Health Story Consolidation Project in conjunction with the ONC Standards & Interoperability Framework. The American College of Physicians provided Health Story with the transition of care use case.

Health Story Project: Implementation Spotlights Over a billion clinical notes are created by physicians in the U.S. each year. With standards, the output can easily integrate with EMRs/HIEs and provide a glide path to interoperability. The Health Story Project is an industry collaboration working to accelerate the development and adoption of standards for electronic clinical documents using HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) and Continuity of Care Document (CCD) templates. Learn how application of these standards supports ARRA requirements for meaningful use for exchanging basic records and preservation of the full patient story. Discover the benefits of the Health Story approach by gaining insight into how two Health Story Project members are applying the standards, making narrative ready for the EHR. Download pdf